Olivia Lenox: A Teen Wolf Story
by neefflove
Summary: Have you ever had something that you were so ashamed of you pushed it deep down inside your soul until it didn't show on the surface anymore? You want to suppress it so much that you start to suppress yourself and who you really are. I let it come to the surface and now the real me has come to the surface as well. The me with glowing red eyes...
1. Chapter 1

Bling! Bling! My phone was what woke me up. I am not usually a light sleeper, but it seems even the smallest sound can wake me up these days. I sleepily grab my phone from my side table; it reads 9:27 Tuesday. The text was from Kelsey, my best friend of two years.

Kelsey: what time are you picking me up 2day?

She knows I hate it when she uses those stupid abbreviations. I somewhat reluctantly text her back

Me: I'll coming to get you in like an hour and a half is Jen coming?

Almost immediately a reply text came in.

Kelsey: yea she doesn't need a ride tho. I am sooooo excited! It's our first back to skool shopping trip. I can't believe skool is only a couple daz away.

Annoyed I decided to end the text conversation at that. I sleepily stumbled into my bathroom and splashed some water on my face to wake me up. The water was ice cold, but refreshing. Blindly feeling for a towel to dry my face I knock over a glass bottle of bath salts instead. Without even thinking about it my hand flew out too catch the bottle. My hand moving at normal speed while the bottle moving in slow motion. While some of the other stuff sucked like the gross long nails and the hair knuckles I had to admit that there were some perks to being whatever I was. Super fast reflexes, ears so good I can hear when people mumble about me under their breath. The only thing was that I wished I knew exactly what I am. It started like three weeks ago. Mood swings and a fever, my friends thought I was pregnant or something, throwing up at random times and eating my weight in sweets. That or they thought I was bulimic because I still didn't gain a pound. A week later after the worst of my illness and I was bed ridden for a day or two, my fever went away and I stopped getting sick. Since I felt instantly better I decided to take a shower since I hadn't in those two days. I walked into my bathroom and turned the shower on. I had to wait for it to heat up so while I was waiting I walked into my room to get my robe. On the way back to the bathroom I hear a cat meow. The neighbors across the street have a cat that sometimes wonders into our yard but my window is closed so even if it was over here I wouldn't be able to hear it. When I glanced out the window the meowing cat was across the street. That's when I heard the water rushing through the pipes and a distant car honking and my dogs sleeping breaths from his bed in the downstairs living room. Completely freaked, I went to the sink and splashed water on my face. When I brought my head up I saw two piercing red eyes staring at me from the mirror. My piercing red eyes. To make a long story short now I grow discussing long nails and hair when I'm pissed off and I don't even know how or why this is happening to me. Well anyways, I go to pick Kelsey up at 11:30 ish dreading to hear her complain about my being late. On the drive to the mall that's all I hear. We get there and meet Jen at forever 21.

"Can you believe Jackson moved to London?"

"I know I am going to miss him so much" Jen and Kelsey were gossiping between each other.

" I'm sure he's glad to get away from loony Lydia" I interjected "he told me she was like pretty much stalking him last year."

"I know right! I can't believe we were ever friends with her. It grosses me out to even think about it." Kelsey says. Lydia had been my best friend before Kelsey. We were the two most popular girls in school until some guy assaulted her and she went completely insane and walked through the woods naked for three days. Also when she and Jackson broke up she kind of went crazy then too.

"I thought we agreed not to bring that up. Its bad enough we were friends with her we don't need to remind ourselves about it." With that the conversation was over apart from a giggle that escaped Jen's lips. She can be so stupid.

2

After making it threw the shopping trip I decided I was going to dodge my friends for awhile. Don't get me wrong though I love shopping and socializing, but lately that stuff doesn't have as much appeal anymore. I decided to tell my friends that my family wanted to get in some summer fun before the school year starts up again. Obviously that was not true, but my friends and I weren't the touchy feely type so they wouldn't know. When Kelsey texted I told her the lie and then had to press ignore to endless phone calls and texts from people I barley even care about.

Dania miracle: I can't believe your not going to Danny's party. Were gonna miss you

Jenn: Olivia I can't believe you can't hang out the week before school starts. Call me 3

Danny: im gonna miss you at my party liv cant wait to see you at school though!

Bla bla bla bla….

I decided to just turn my phone off for a few hours.

3

Those hours turned into days and I ended up spend the whole week before school with my phone turned off, Netflix turned on, and my hand buried in a bowl of popcorn. It's the night before school and I decide to shake off my funk by going on a run, track season is about to begin anyways. I shake of my popcorn covered sweat shirt, put on some leggings and my running shoes, and head for the door. I hadn't been on a run all summer, the beginning of it I was busy partying with my friend and at the end I was distracted by my new found self. I expected to be out of shape and out of stamina since I had spent the past week on the couch, but when I started to hear my shoes slapping the pavement and expected me breathing to start to quicken fast it never did. After running for close too an hour my plus still remained at a steady pace not effected by the sudden activity I was putting my self through. It's not the strangest thing that has happened to me. It defiantly beats glowing red eyes and a nasty manicure. Now I can never loose my breath.

When I started running I couldn't stop. It's like I was not even there just my long legs pushing me forward. When I was running it was like my brain wasn't processing what my eyes were seeing so when I finally stopped to think I had no idea where I was. Somehow I had ended up in the woods. I don't know how long I had been running for because it was suddenly light outside from the almost pitch black I had started in. Maybe not exactly light, but everything was visibly like I was watching through a night vision camera. Then my vision went back to black. The only thing that gave even a hint to civilization was distant hum of car engines and the tick of a traffic light turning colors. I knew these new changes would come in handy. I started running not being able to see in front of me, but somehow avoiding running into trees, too the sound of the screech of the tires and the sound of a foot hitting the breaks and…. A heart beat... a really fast heart beat… and panting and feet hitting the dry leaves and under brush. Not human feet, different… hooves? Then the loud fwap of my sneakers hitting pavement. I made it to a road and I could see the gleam of head lights in the distance, two sets. Then the panting got closer and the crunch of the under brush turned to click of pavement under the unidentified feet. My vision glowed again and the muddy darkness turned to clear. The heart beat had come from a deer running strait down the road. Full speed. The deer's heart beat could only be described as frightened and with all that fear it ran strait past me. Headed for the idling cars down the road. Deer are naturally skittish right? They generally stay away from people right? Wrong. A squeak escaped my lips right as the deer ran into one of the cars. I heard two distinct screams, female screams.

"Oh my god." I heard a male voice say in a worried tone followed by the slam of two car doors and the thud of two pairs of feet running in the direction of the wrecked car and the deer that no longer had a heart beat. Then two more car doors slam and I hear the frightened breath of two girls. I focus in on their faces. Its Lydia Martin running to fearfully embrace one of the boys from the second car. He is from my school I recognize him. Stiles something. Her now best friend Allison Argent is with her and her ex Scott McCall.

"Are you ok?" Scott asks Allison.

"I think so," she replies out of breath.

"Well I'm not," Lydia squeaks still holding onto Stiles. "It just ran right into my car… like…like it was crazy or something," she would know what crazy looks like wouldn't she I think to my self. I unintentionally start to reseed to the cover of the trees, but still able to see my four class mates standing in fear around the car. Scott starts to move closer to the dead animal. He puts his hand near the deer's lifeless body.

"Not crazy… scared. Like it was running from something." Scott says as he starts to gaze around the forest in my direction. I instinctively inch deeper into the trees not that he can see me this far down the road in the pitch black. Even though I know Scott didn't know I was there I had a feeling of guilt as I walked home like I caused this to happen. His words seem like an accusation as I run them through my mine.


	2. Chapter 2

4

As I groom myself for the day ahead I can't shake the memories from last night. This shouldn't be bothering me this much, but it is. I don't mean to sound sheltered but that was the first time I saw a dead anything aside from the occasional dead squirrel in the middle of the road. It's different when you see the impact of the deer to the metal of the car, hear the crack of the glass and snap of the bone, smell the blood that is undeniably pooling at the base of the cars tires. I splash some water on my face to alert my self to reality. After I am done washing my face I look up in the mirror at my heart shaped face. The water drips of my perfectly shaped eye brows down past, my sometimes crystal blue eyes, and finally smacks against the hard marble of the sink splattering into smaller beads. I stand up and look at my whole in the mirror. I know it might sound self centered, but it's the truth. I'm gorgeous. Honey blonde hair, mile long legs, and a flat stomach. At 5 foot 10 I am one of the tallest girls at beacon hills high school and proud of it. It was only natural that I become queen B.

"Olivia you have 20 minutes!" I hear my mom yell to me from the bottom of the stairs breaking my gaze from the mirror to the clock. Shit she's right. My outfit for my first day of junior year is laid neatly on my bed. I slip on my tuxedo striped black leather skinnies and a light blue chiffon blouse that shows a lot of cleavage. Black stilettos to complete. I don't need a lot of make up so I do a light dusting of blush, mascara, and silver eye shadow that has been my favorite since forever. I grab my phone from my bed side table and finally turn it on the reveal 23 unread texts and 7 missed calls. I roll my eyes and bounce down the stairs. I grab my keys and an apple and dash out the door to pick up Kelsey without even any acknowledgement from my mother. The ride too school is filled with Kelsey's insistent bit*hing about me not answering any of her texts. 15 minutes later we pull up in front of Beacon Hills High School for the first time in months. I grab my crumbled up schedule from cross body bag and am relieved to find I don't have first period with Kelsey or Jen. When I walk in the door I go strait to my locker that has been assigned to me since freshman year. I start fiddling with the lock as Jen babbles in my ear. Thirddy- eight….. Twwwenty- four…nine! I still have the touch I smile to my self as my old friend locker 163 pops open with a click. I start to make myself at home again for the third time. Sometime during my blissful locker renovating Jen left and everyone starts to filter out of the halls the only people that remain are a couple of freshman that got lost (it's not even a big school idiots) and two newbies that catch my eye. They obviously aren't freshman. Their twins, tall tan and taunt, walking out of the office with fresh new schedules that they give to the new kids. With Jackson gone the popular guy population was dwindling and we needed some fresh meat. I met eyes with the cuter one, if that's even possible with twins, and strutted right up.

"Hey! You guys are new aren't you? I said in my sexy confident voice.

"Yea" twin one said "I'm Adien" he continued. He pointed to twin two and said "this is my brother Ethan."

"It's really nice to meet you guys. My names Liv. Beacon Hills isn't the biggest town and it's always nice to have new, interesting people." I said with a cocky smirk. "Hey if you need someone to sit with at lunch just look for me! But anyways I should get going so… see you at lunch?"

"Yea that would be great. Bye" Aiden said. I sauntered of to English knowing he would be watching me leave.

5

I walked into English class just on time. Scott McCall and Stiles something were siding next to each other with two of the three only available seats near them. Even though they didn't know I was there last night it still kind of freaked me out to be near Scott so I sat in the seat in the back. You get better cell phone reception back there anyways. Right before the bell rang Lydia and Allison walk in. I can sense the tension between Allison and Scott when she has to take the only available seat next to her ex boyfriend. The usual before class murmur of voices range out even louder because of all of the "I missed you"s and "how was your summer"s. then there was a symphony of cell phone beeps, everyone's phones had received a text at the same time. I heard the familiar bling of my phone sound from my bag as I turned around to get it everyone simultaneously retrieved theirs. The text was from an unknown number. I barley had time to read the first word when the classroom door opened and a fair skinned woman with dark hair walked in

"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky – seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

She recited from the text exactly. "The closing line from the first book we will be reading this year, Heart of Darkness, and the last text you will be receiving in my class." _A little dramatic don't you think._ "My name is Miss Blake" as she began to introduce herself as the door reopened reveling the principle beckoning Miss Blake over to talk. When she got done whispering she turned to face the class. "Scott McCall" she said waving him out the door. He quickly gathered his things and followed her out the door. With the teacher out of the room the murmurs started again. There was nobody worth talking to in here so I decided to just eavesdrop. After what happened last night I couldn't help, but listen in on what caused the principle to pull Scott out of class on the first day.

"…I know it must be legit since your mother called you out, but I have heard about you. It's not going to be like last year, the skipping and the bad grades is it?" I heard Miss Blake saying.

"It's going to be different this year I promise." Scott's low voice replied.

"I know you say that but high school is…" Scott cut her off before she could finish what she was saying.

"I know I promise I will not be ephemeral." With that I heard Scott's foot steps echo down the hall right before the door opened again and Miss Blake reentered the room.

"Sorry for that interruption. Now I'd like to tell you a little bit about what…"my mind trailed of what she had to say and zeroed in on something else.

"Lydia… Lydia" I looked up and sure enough Stiles was whispering to Lydia. He has been obsessed with her since like third grade according to Lydia. When we were still friends she wouldn't even look his way. I don't know why. Yeah he is kind of a dork and he sucks at Lacrosse, but he's defiantly not ugly, but now she is having conversations with him in class and running into his arms when she gets a little scared.

"What?" she said with a slight edge to her voice. She had been doodling in a note book and I guess he had broken her concentration.

"Was that from last night?" he said gesturing down to her ankle where she had a bandage.

She had a slightly embarrassed look on her face. "No…Prada bit me." Prada is her super annoying little dog. It was such a brat and only let Lydia touch her. I'm not surprised that she bit someone, but I am surprised it was Lydia.

"Your dog?" stiles said seemingly as surprised as I was.

"No my designer handbag." she said sarcastically. She always had a way of making a bitch of herself, but hey who am I to talk.

"Well has she ever bitten you before?" he asks ignoring her sarcastic comment. Again with the slightly embarrassed look she shakes her head no.

Stiles look around nervously and licks his lips. "I think something is going on… something bad"

"What do you mean?" She seemed as confused as I was.

"The deer last night," even the mention of that made me cringe. "And then your dog. Animals can sense when something is wrong right?"

"What's that thing that they say about bad things coming in threes? One… two…three." Just as she finished counting a black blur barreled into the window right in front of her face. Miss Blake immediately stops talking and tentatively walks towards the window when another blur smacks the window, a bird… a crow. Then there's a cloud of them barreling towards the already cracked window.

6

When the glass shattered in all directions it sent the students scattering into corners and under desks like mice. When the birds swarmed in you were swimming in blackness. I just kept hoping I didn't get bird shit on me.


	3. Chapter 3

7

The police finally arrived after 15 minutes of just sitting there although I don't know why the police were called for a bunch of birds crashing into a school window. I could see animal control. Anyways, some parents arrived including, Allison's dad, to take there shaken up kids' home for the day, but we had to stay for police questioning briefly, no clue why. Apparently Stiles' dad is the police chief and he asked us a few questions, nothing worth repeating. When the police finally let us go we all rushed out to the hall. I stopped at my locker which was right out side of the class room to get my things when a sweaty girl dressed in a black t-shirt and black sweat pants walked in. she looked kind of frightened and has an urgent look on her face. She stops in front of Allison and Lydia who have just finished retrieving there things from there lockers.

"Your Allison right?" she says out of breath.

"Yea… im sorry do I know you?" she says in her always sweet tone. The girl is about to speak again, but her gaze falls behind the girls on my two new friends Ethan and aiden. She firmly grabs both there arms before turning and walking briskly down the hallway in the opposite direction.

"That psycho left a bruise!" Lydia says as I walk up behind them.

"It takes one to know one doesn't it Lydia?" I say with a fakely sweet smile on my face before promptly walking off with a confident strut.

"How were you ever friends with that bitch?" Allison murmurs under her breath. I have nothing against her, but her rude comment might make me reconsider. All I wanted to do was go home and take a 3 hour shower to wash the bird off of me so I let Allison get away with it. For now.

8

I hadn't slept much that night, I was busy mulling over what Stiles had said about the animals acting weird and the "bad things come in threes" thing. A couple of months ago I would have just dismissed this as superstitious babble, but lately superstition doesn't sound as crazy. If the deer, prada, and the birds were the three bad things did that mean that there were more threesomes to come? If so would they be worse then an angry dog and a few animals committing suicide. When the light finally shone threw my drapes as it rose I was relived. My brain hurt from running those thoughts through my head all night. My alarm clock hadn't rung yet. It read 5:36 and was due to go off in about a half hour so I hopped out of bed and headed for the stairs. When I reached the bottom of the stairs my big blood hound Copper, yes named after the dog from the fox and the hound, wasn't in his usual position waiting at the bottom of the stairs. I called him so I could let him out side, no response. Walking around the corner to the living room I was surprised to see that he was not on his cushion either. As I made my way into the kitchen I felt a breeze coming around the corner. The glass door to my back patio had been shattered. Copper was standing in my backyard franticly digging under the fence. I ran out to try and stop him or comfort him or something, but as I approached copper turned towards me, and arched his back in a defensive position baring his teeth with and aggressive growl. Copper has never growled at anything but his own reflection. I stood there in disbelieve as he lunged forward aiming for my leg. I jumped back in heart break. Copper loved even my parents who thought he was a waste of space and smelled like a dirty old shoe and here he was attacking me. He was about to lung again when a deep rumble escaped from my mouth. He instantly backed of and retreated to his dog house. I guess the animals are going completely insane.

9

I made it to third period, econ with Coach Finstone. Coach always seemed a little out of it to me and today he was ranting about the stock market and "risk and reward." When he asks the class what risk and reward is Scott raises his hand.

"Yes McCall, you can go to the bathroom," coach says when he notices him. Apparently last year Scott skipped all the time and got terrible grades.

"No coach I wanted to answer the question." Coach nods his head in response. "When you're dealing with the stock market you have to consider if the risk outweighs the reward. If the possibilities are worth what you might loose." Coach looked as surprised as everyone else.

"Uh good job McCall," he mumbles under his breath. "I need a quarter! Anybody have a quarter?" he continued. Stiles was sitting in front of me. He leans back and sticks his hand in his pocket. When he pulls his hand out a quarter is clutched between his fingers, but that's not all that comes out. A condom labeled XXL falls to the floor followed by a ring of laughter from the other students. Lydia really must be missing out. Stiles covers his face in embarrassment while coach leans down and retrieves it for him. "I uh… think you dropped this." Stiles extends his arm with quarter in hand. "Congratulations" coach says as he takes the quarter and turns to the blackboard. This brings more laughter and an even more embarrassed look to stiles' face. When coach reaches his desk he grabs a mug off of it and sets it on the ground in the front of the class. "Danny! What if I told you that if you get this quarter in that mug you don't have to take the pop quiz tomorrow?" Danny, a great lacrosse player and a close personal friend, looks confused.

"Coach it's not really a pop quiz if you just told us about it." He replies.

With a disappointed look on his face coach straitens his back "I expected more from you Danny. McCall how about you? Is it worth the risk? He says as he turns his attention to Scott and hands him the quarter.

"What's the risk?"

"An essay. If you get this quarter in that mug right now then you don't have to take the quiz, but if not an essay." Scott studies the quarter in an effort to contemplate this and then semi-reluctantly hands back the quarter to coach. "Really? Well does anyone care to take the risk?" he says now addressing everyone he makes his way back to the front of the class. In front of me Stiles raises his hand. "Come on up here Stilinski!" _ah so that's what his last name is._ Stiles excitedly hops out of his seat, to the front of the class. He grabs his quarter from coach's hand and leans down too concentrate on his shot. As he prepares to take his shot the class room door opens slowly and quietly to revel Stiles' father and two of the other police officers that were here yesterday for the bird incident.

Apparently Stiles doesn't notice his father because when he calls his name stiles says, "I know coach" still in his concentrated stance.

"Stiles" he says slightly louder.

"Yea coach I got it."

"Stiles!" he says, almost a yell. That's when Stiles finally catches on and looks up.

"Dad?" he says confusedly as his father motions for him to join him in the hall way. Naturally I'm suspicious. Stiles talks about weird superstitious stuff and then his dad the sheriff calls him out of class with back up. I tune out whatever coach has started talking about and use my new found abilities to do some more eavesdropping.

"She's missing?" Stiles light, dorky voice says.

"She hasn't been seen since her party last night and some of her friends say you were the last one to see her." His dad's husky voice says.

"We were hanging out alone and I left for a little bit. When I came back she was gone I just figured she met up with some of her other friends." There's a slight quiver to his voice like when someone is trying not to cry. "Dad you gotta find her." What? Are unfortunate coincidences attracted to this kid or something? Or maybe they aren't coincidences, weirder things have happened and I'm one of them.

10

I made it through the last two periods and I only had my free period left till I could go home and try to forget about all of this SiFy bull shit. All of this stuff about psycho animals and missing girls was dogging me all through class and I couldn't focus on anything. I decided that maybe some flirting would get my mind off things. Thankfully Adien was in my free period. The two twins were standing in front of a book shelf in the library whispering to each other. Ethan sat down at a table across from Danny so I saw my opportunity to talk to Adien and I took it. He was lingering near by his brother. I walked up behind him and touched his large shoulder. He turned around with a smile on his face.

"Hey! I missed you guys at Lunch." I said with a sexy pout on my face.

"Oh yea sorry. We met up with some friends and left for lunch, but well be there tomorrow if the offer still stands." He said obviously flirting back.

"Of course," I turned to Ethan. "Danny will be there" I say as I shoot a smile to Danny. His puppy dog face shows that he is hitting it off with him. I hope for Danny's sake that Ethan goes that way. I turn back to Adien with a smirk. "So how do you like Beacon Hills so far?" Adien's attention is elsewhere though. He's glancing across the library at Lydia and Allison looking our way. "Just a piece of friendly advice. I wouldn't bother with her if I were you. She's like literally crazy." I say in a hushed tone. He looks back at me like he wasn't listening to me the whole time.

"Right, thanks. Maybe you can tell me about it at lunch tomorrow." He says trying to recover from that. He can't just flirt with me and then zone off right in the middle of the conversation and expect to continue flirting.

"Yea maybe, hey I have to go I'm supposed to go meet someone so… see you tomorrow." With that I turn and leave with an uninterested smile. Let's see him be staring at Psycho instead of me now. I pause at the doorway long enough to catch the end of Allison and Lydia's conversation.

"… pay attention Lydia." Allison squawks at her. She had been staring at the twins again. "I think I found the symbol, it's to a bank here in Beacon Hills."

"What was she trying to do, give us investment advice?" Lydia bitchs back. What the hell were they talking about? Then my gaze lands on her arm. The bruise that the sweat girl from yesterday had left, it matched the symbol on Allison's screen.

"Not at this bank. It's been closed down for years."

"Are you going to tell Scott?"

"No, I have to have something real, remember?" what were these people into? Mystery bruises, abounded banks, missing girls. Whatever is going on Scott, Stiles, Lydia, and Allison were all involved and I can't think of anything else anymore so why not find out. I'm going to that bank. Tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

11

It wasn't hard to figure out which bank it was. I just had to look for the big marble building with its windows boarded up and chains on the doors. I scouted it out on my way to café after school. I know it's kind of cliché, hanging out at the coffee shop every day after school, but there's nowhere else to go in this hole of a town. That's where everyone worth talking to congregates so it's better then nothing.

"Hey…Liv!" I hear calling from behind as Kelsey, Jen, and I walk in the door. I glance over my shoulder and see Aaron Stevens pushing through his friends to run up to my side. Aaron and I have been together for like five months now. We aren't like together together although I think I might be leading him on. I guess I should feel bad about it, but I don't. It probably sounds cold hearted, but I just don't, it's not my fault. With the last month or so I have been avoiding everyone especially him, you would think he would get the picture. "Hey! I haven't heard from you in a while," and by a while he means three days, needy much?

"yea sorry, I've been really busy.' I lie as I lean into him. He raps his arms around my waist and I stroke his arms. He doesn't play lacrosse which is a big down fall, but he is really hot so that kind of makes up for it. He leans down and kisses me lightly.

"Well then we need to get some alone time in then don't we."

"I can't this week, I have a lot going on, family stuff, but I'll call you when I can." I say knowing I won't be calling him anytime soon. "Are you guys coming in?"

"No, we're actually headed to the gym down the street, but I wish I could," he says in an annoyingly whinny tone. Thank God. I don't think I would be able to make it through an hour of iced coffee and under the table grouping.

"Awww, well then I'll call you later," I say with a fake pout on my face. He leans down and kisses me again and then speeds off down the street to the gym.

12

After I drop Kelsey off it's almost 9:00 so I speed home to make it there before my mom gets home. My dads at the hospital all night so I don't have to deal with him. It's not like my parents wouldn't let me leave the house it's just that I just really don't want to see there faces. I get home with about 15 minutes to spare. The second I get the front door open I run up to my room, grab my white north face, and throw on my sports bra and yoga shorts. I grab my sneakers as I run out the door. I stop on the porch to lace up my sneakers, slip on my north face, and I'm off. As I start to hear the rhythmic pounding of my feet against the asphalt I drift into a blissful unawareness of my surroundings. My brain isn't calling the shots now, without even thinking about it my legs carry me where I need to go. When my blank brain floods with thoughts and I realize I'm only a half a block away from the bank I start to think about my plan of action. What action? What did I think I was going to do when I got there? I'm going to arrive at an empty bank and what do I expect to find? A missing girl? Stolen animal anti-depressants? This was so stupid and now I'm just wondering around in the dark about to brake into an abandoned bank. I had gotten lost in my thoughts and didn't realize that I had ended up right in front of the big, dark building. I was about to turn around and start my jog home when I noticed that the chain on the front door had been cut. The door was wide open. I inched my way over to the door and peered inside. Nope, no weird sweaty girl cult in here. Even though the building was empty except for some scattered desks and abandoned staplers something compelled me to proceed into the darkness. Once my regular eyes adjusted I could see fine with out my red eyes. There was a large marble staircase leading up onto a balcony overlooking the whole bank, I decided to start there. Once on the balcony I turned the corner to another railing overlooking a hallway with a big vault door like the kind you see in movies. That's when I heard foot steps and dodged out of plan sight fast enough to see Allison rounding the corner she must have been the one who cut the chain. She was snooping around too. Just before I was about to come out of my hiding place and reveal myself, someone ran up behind Allison and pinned her to the wall. It was hard to tell who it was from behind. It was a woman, dark skinned with long black curls.

"Miss Morrell?" Allison finally breathed out when she was done struggling. Miss Morrell the guidance councilor? What the hell was she doing here and what the hell was she doing beating the shit out of one of her students?

"Get in the closet and don't come out till the fighting starts." Miss Morrell spat at her.

"Fighting?" Allison looked worried as Miss Morrell shoved her into the near by Janitor's closet and shut the door in her face. Apparently Allison obeyed her command because the closet door didn't open even after Miss Morrell started down the hall in the same direction she had come, leaving me with only Allison's confused, rapid breath to listen to.

13

There were even more questions on my mind then before and I had a lot of time to contemplate them. Nothing had happen for the past hour and a half and I couldn't just leave. I had to see the fighting Miss Morrell had mentioned and what did this have to do with Lydia and Allison? Were they a part of some under ground fight club or something? That would be the kind of thing Loony Lydia would do. Just as I had started to entertain myself with a game of paper ball I heard a door open somewhere in the bank. I settle back into my hiding spot from earlier and wait for something to happen. Then five figures round the corner. I recognize two of them. Ethan and Adien. What the hell? They're involved in this two? The man standing in front of them is wearing sun glasses, at night? Then I notice the cane in his hand. He's feeling around in front of him with the cane. He's blind. Next down the line is a very large guy with a shaved head and an angry look on his face. Behind him is a woman with dark hair… and…. Red eyes. Just like mine. She stops in front of the janitor's closet that Allison is in and bares her sharp teeth. That's when a strong smell of ammonia wafts out of the closet. Red eyed girl keeps walking with a click of her bare hairy toes and their long sharp nails. They proceed down the hall and enter a room next too the big vault. That woman and me are the same, whatever we are. I almost get up and follow them before remembering that I have to stay and wait for the fight. If that woman was changed right in front of Adien than that means he knows what I am. He could even be one. I don't care that I have to wait even longer for this supposed fight. I'm one step closer to finding out what I have changed into over the past month and I couldn't be happier.

Recognition in the Eyes


	5. Chapter 5

14

It's been another hour. The five that went into the other room left as soon as they came. Another hour of sitting and running everything through my head. I couldn't just sit here till morning. I grab my phone from my pocket and click the home button and the screen glows to life. 12:48 and still nothing. Maybe I should go down stairs and join Allison in the closet. Maybe she could tell me what I am. Just as I stand and brush the dust off my North face jacket, that I had used to sit on, I hear a faint pounding like someone slamming on the wall through the other side. It's coming from inside the vault. I stand up and scurry to my hiding place for the third time. The slamming gets louder until the final bang! And the sound of rubble scattering across the floor. I focus my hearing inside the vault.

"Boyd?" I hear I deep voice calling. Boyd. Why does that name sound familiar? Then I hear a phone ring and growling, two sets of it. "Cora?" the deep voice whines in disbelief.

"Stiles, I can't talk right now, I'm kind of busy." Scott's voice sounds through the other side of the stone wall. I can faintly make out Stiles urgent voice on the other end of the phone call. Something about the moon and the walls and the stone that they are made of.

"Derek, get out of here!" a female voice who I'm assuming is Cora growls. Then Miss Morrell appears from around the corner. She runs to the vault door and slowly opens it careful not to unclench what ever is in her hand to revel Scott and three other figures standing in the darkness near a gaping hole in the wall.

"No! Don't!" Scott yells as Miss Morrell knells down to sprinkle whatever she had in her hand just inside the vault entrance. Then there is a blur of movement from the three others in the vault. There is growling and shrieks of pain. One of the figures is attacking Scott and the other is going after his deep voiced friend. Allison, remembering her orders scurries out of the closet and over to the vault entrance. She knells down in the same spot as Miss Morrell had done.

"No! Don't break the seal!" deep voiced guy chokes out between grunts of pain. Allison looks up in his direction then focuses her attention back to the floor. Without hesitation she reaches down and does whatever deep voiced guy instructed her not to. As soon as she does so the two attackers drop there victims and run for the vault door. Through all the excitement I hadn't though to use my new vision to see there faces and as they emerged from the darkness of the vault I saw that they too were hairy, unmanicured likenesses of whatever I am. The only off thing, there was no burning red glow coming from their eyes, instead the glow was yellow. The two attackers ran strait for the front door of the bank and out into the night. The deep voiced guy, obviously enraged at Allison's disobedience, barrels towards her before Scott intercepts him. "What the Hell were you thinking? You just put the whole town in danger!" he says with venom in his voice.

"Derek Stop! If she wasn't here we would have died. So just calm down." Scott says trying to calm the situation. _Wait a second. I recognize him; Derek is like the town nut. Everybody thinks that he like burned his family alive or something. I can't imagine why, he is obviously so peachy. _While I was busy recalling where I know Derek from Allison had started talking about her mother. Something about how somehow it was his fault that she had killed herself last year.

"Tell her Scott."

"w-what? Tell me what Scott?" Allison says questioningly. When Scott silently refuses to answer Derek continues.

"Tell her how I saved your life," Scott shacks his head resentfully before turning to Allison with apology in his eyes. "She was trying to kill him and I had to do something to save him."

"No… is this true?" Allison says turning her attention back to Scott.

"I'm sorry." He says sincerely while Allison chokes down tears. Those aren't the only tears that come as Derek reemerges from the closet the Allison was in, carrying something in his arms, no someone. Her gold curls spill over his arms and her arm hangs lifelessly at her side. Still I only count four heart beats; Derek's, Scott's, Allison's, and my own. My hearing confirms what I gathered from Derek's tears. She was dead. That's when I put two and two together. Boyd and Erica went missing at the end of sophomore year. I recognized Erica's golden locks from the missing posters that were up all over town. That was Boyd's large frame and dark skin running out of the vault minutes earlier plus some extra hair. Had Boyd killed her? He was certainly capably of it, he almost killed Scott and Derek and who was that other chick.

"We have to find them." Derek says trying to choke down his tears. "They were locked up in there for three months; they have a lot of strength and a lot of anger." Obviously they just beat the shit out of the two of them.

"They will probably go to the woods right? I'll call Isaac, he can meet us there." I knew from the past year or so that he was talking about Isaac Lahey. As I think of this I can't help but shed a tear.

15

_ It was one of those picturesque summers where your out everyday and it's so hot that you get out the sprinkler even though you think your to old for it, the kind of summer that doesn't seem right unless your popsicle melts and make a sticky mess all over your favorite pair of shorts, and the same kind that makes you so blissfully unaware of the rest of the world because you only want to spent it with your best friend. And that's what I did, I was out everyday, played in the sprinkler like a five year old, ate popsicles, and spent my summer laying in the sun with Isaac. _

_ "Isaac are you scared?" I say as I turn to him. We had spent the whole day walking around in the woods behind my house and we finally made it back to my backyard. It was towards the end of the summer and the days were getting shorter, the sun had just set and it was getting dark._

_ "Scared of what?"_

_ "Middle school. It's going to be really big and there is going to be a lot of new people. And what if I don't see you anymore." I spit out franticly._

_ "It will be fine. Even if we don't see each other at school we'll still meet at the rock everyday." He says in a reassuring tone but I can still see the worry behind his pale blue eyes. Isaac always had a way of comforting me even if he wasn't sure himself. I could tell he was scared to. Probably worried that I'm going to forget him._

_ "Isaac we're always going to be best friends." I say with a matter of fact expression. He never says so but I'm pretty sure that he thinks I'll ditch him and then he'll be alone again. He's mothers gone and I don't think he likes his dad very much. He never wants to go home. He's also sort of socially awkward. He barley said a word at school when I first moved to Beacon Hills. _

_ I honestly don't want this summer to ever end. I look down at the grass that's poking up between my bare toes. The little blades try to grow to the sky. They don't get that if they get any higher someone is going to cut them down. I want to just tell them to stay little seeds. Involuntarily I get down on my knees. The grass feels so cool contrasting to the thick heat of the air. I stretch my body out over the ground until I'm laying flat on my stomach with my head turned looking at Isaac who returns my gaze. I reach up and grab his hand with the tips of my fingers and pull him down gently so he's lying on his back beside me. A small smile spread across his face mirroring mine and I can't help but giggle at his sheepishness. _

_ "What?" he says with a hint of a giggle to his voice too._

_ "Nothing!" I say as an even bigger smile crawls across my lips. Then I flip over on my back and stare up at the emerging night stars. The stars stretch out endlessly and I wonder if they ever stop. "Isaac?" I start before turning on my side to face him. "If we just never went home how long do you think it would take for our parents to start missing us?... I don't think they would even care." I say thoughtfully._

_ "What are you taking about? Of course they would care…" Isaac starts to trail off as he realizes what he's saying isn't true._

_ "Oh well, it's not like it matters, we're going to be stuck here another 7 years anyways." I add half heartedly as I resume my position star gazing._

_ "What time is it?" Isaac says seemingly trying to get as far away from that subject as possible. _

_ I pull out my mom's hand-me-down blackberry from my back pocket and slide up the top to make the screen glow to life. "almost 10" I say reluctantly knowing that this is Isaac's cue to start jogging home and that means that I will have to go home too. Sometimes I hate him just for leaving me._

_ "Oh." Isaac says as his smile droops into a frown and he stands up brushing himself off. _

_ "Bye." I lay on the ground looking up at him as I wait for his reply._

_ "Bye Olivia... were still going to meet at pride rock tomorrow morning right?_

_ "Of course. 9:30 like always." I say as I start to sit up and brush the grass out of my hair. Isaac gives a short nod in response before turning around and shoving his hands into his pockets. I watch him leave till he disappears down the sidewalk then go back inside to what I have been dreading all day just so I can wait to do it all over again._


	6. Chapter 6

16

I have been walking around the forest for 45 minutes and I still haven't been able to catch up to them. I followed them around the back of the bank were they got into a car and I couldn't run after the car down the street like a crazy person, they would notice. Instead I went to one of the many mountain trails and just wondered around trying to hear someone. I have heard plenty of chipmunks but nobody growling. The last time I checked it was about 1:30 and I realized there's no point in going home now besides I would just get lectured for waking up my parents, God forbid my mom is to tired to kiss a couple of babies heads or whatever it is that mayoral candidates do.

My feet are getting pretty tired and I haven't heard anything this whole time, I'm about to turn around and make my way down the mountain when I hear a twig snap and then some leaves crunch like the sounds that antelopes hear before they are pounced on by hungry lions. I scan the forest with my night vision eyes, nothing. I decide to keep walking all the while having my ears sharp waiting for any intimidating sounds.

I don't know how far into the forest I am or how long it will take me to get out. It's been awhile since I have been able to hear car engines or any hint of civilization and I just hope I'm going the right way. Since the crunching leaves I have heard nothing, but the sound of my own feet in the underbrush and my steady breath. I let my guard down to soon. Since I haven't been listening I don't her the leisure foot steps behind me until I can almost feel the heat of there body. I whirl around with my gaze to the ground. My eyes fall on two bare, hairy feet with intimidating claws. They follow the legs up to the woman with my same glowing red eyes from the bank. Before I have a chance to say anything another set of foot steps creep up behind me and I turn around to her large friend glaring at me through narrowed eyes. The woman speaks first

"Olivia? What are you doing walking around the forest at night… all alone? You could get hurt, there's lots of dangerous… creatures that could be lurking in the dark." She says searching for the right word to use for Boyd and his friend.

"I was just trying to clear my thoughts you know try to figure out who I am." I say. Her amused expression shows that she obviously figured out my hidden meaning. "By the way I love your pedicure you just have to tell me where you got them done!" I say with a sarcastic smirk.

"We hear that we have so mutual friends, maybe we could all be friends. We have a friend that we would like you to meet." She says dismissing my sarcasm.

"You know I'm not getting a real friendly vibe from you, I feel a little threatened with your huge buddy cornering me in." I say gesturing to the large man behind me and I hear a snicker escape him.

"Were not trying to threaten you Olivia. We were just wondering if you needed a new family. Maybe then we could tell you what you are." My heart soars. Am I finally going to find out what I am?

"The twins are apart of your little family?" I question as she nods yes. Even though I desperately want to know what the hell is going on something still bothers me. These people knew that Boyd and Cora were locked in that vault, they probably knew that they would attack people like Scott. "Who's the man with cane?"

"Just think of him as the family's father." She says not wanting to let anything else on. I laugh harshly and the woman's face turns from a confident smirk to enraged embarrassment as I feel the heat of the large man's body closing in behind me.

"You are grown adults and you need a father figure?" I say as even more belittling laughter escapes my lips. "Can you take care of your self?" I say as I close the distance between the two of us, "or do you need constant directing? I bet it wasn't even your idea to come here tonight. Why would I want to become part of a family of boneless children like yourself?" I spit as a frighteningly infuriated expression crosses her face. I try to laugh in her face again but it comes out more of a whimper as she bares her teeth and crouches into an attacking position. The large man is successful however in his attempt to laugh at my sudden fear. As the woman lunges towards me I involuntarily bare my teeth back as daggers extend from my fingertips. The woman straitens out and starts to circle me snickering all the while.

"You really have no idea what you are, do you? You have no idea what you're doing either, it beats me why Deucalion even what's you." She snarls at me and I growl back, I don't take criticism well. I lunge at her claws extended and she ducks out of the way followed by a swift kick to the jaw, her toe nails scratch the side of my face and I feel blood start to trickle down my cheek only to be absorbed be the collar of my north face. Before I have a change to get back on my feet she is on top of me, pinning me against a large tree. I see the large man creeping up beside her with a smile on his face.

"You know defensiveness like this suggests some serious self-esteem issues." I push out through gritted teeth. This only causes her forearm to crush harder against my throat. My vision starts to blur and through blurred eyes I see that the large man has back off. I take my opportunity, I draw back my arm from its clasped position around her's and I bring it down hard against the side of her face giving her a matching wound to mine. Her grip loosens just long enough for me shove her off, her body hits the ground with a loud thud. I stop just long enough to realize that the man has disappeared and then I'm off, running the fastest I ever have dodging trees and rocks. I'm running for what seems like forever just hopping that they aren't following me, and then finally I hear the sound of tires speeding over a gravel road. It's distant, but defiantly there. I am so happy I could cry, I made it, then white hot pain. There's a blur and somehow I hit the ground. There is searing pain in my right arm and a collapsing pressure on rib cage. My vision clears and the man is on top of me teeth bared, red eyes and long hair jutting out of his jaw line. He pins my left arm back and then grabs my right, my arm is on fire and I let out an ear piercing scream.

"Oops I think I broke it." He says with a sick smirk on his hairy face. I can feel hot tears running down my face and this only seems to make his smile widen. "That wasn't very nice what you did to Kali, we were just trying to give you a good opportunity." His knee presses hard and swift into my lungs knocking the air out of me. He continues his monologue as I cough in stinging breaths. "even though Kali isn't to fond of you now Deucalion is still going to want you… so you just think about what we said" he gives my arm one last piercing squeeze and then he his gone and I can breath again. Even though the large man's speech seems that he was done with me for now I was still scared out of my mind, as soon as I was able maneuver on to my feet with one good arm I was running again. I could hear car horns and people and I see distant lights and then there was gravel, a gravel road I had made it. The world seemed to be going in and out and my vision turned to white and then the road disappeared and then everything disappear just as I was half way down the hill to the road and then nothing.

17

_After Isaac left last night I went up to my room and lay awake for hours. What if me and Isaac never did go home? We could leave today; we could go home while our parents are at work and we could pack our bags and just never come back. I thought about what I was going to say to Isaac the whole way to the meeting place. When I got there Isaac was sitting at the very top of pride rock waiting for me like always. We named it pride rock because it looked exactly like the big rock from The Lion King only smaller. He had a lunch box next to him no doubt filled with fudgesicles they were his favorite. When he saw me his face light up._

"_Morning my lady!" Isaac calls to me. All of the sudden I get nervous. Is he going to think I'm stupid for even suggesting it? Before my mind has a chance to protest my excited mouth spills it._

"_Isaac, I had the best idea!" I was so excited that I'm surprised he could distinguish my jumble of words. "Remember what I said about leaving? We should do it!"_

"_What!"_

"_We could just leave, we could pack our bags tonight, meet here tomorrow and then just never go back!" now that I said it I realized that Isaac is never going to do it. He probably thinks I'm stupid just for even thinking of it. He is silent and I just know that when he speaks he's going to tell me how immature I'm being. He looks down at his hands, they have scares on the knuckles and they are freshly broken. When he looks at his bleeding knuckles tears come to his eyes, I don't know why, he told me it's from helping his father at the cemetery, he's the grounds keeper. When he looks back up again and meets my eyes he finally opens his mouth to say something._

"_Okay," he says as a triumphant smile spread across his lips. We spend the rest of the day carefully planning our escape. We will meet her tomorrow and never come back. _

18

My head felt like it was a balloon blowing up to its full capacity. My eyes ached and I didn't even care to open them. I forgot what had happened until I felt a sudden breeze lift the bottom seam of my running shorts. That's when I remembered the searing pain in my right arm; I didn't even dare try to move it again. My head was still fuzzy and I don't know why but I just laid there in the decaying leaves with my eyes shut. It felt peaceful when I thought back on my dreadful encounter with the twin's friends. I wasn't fully aware that I was lying in the middle of the forest with my head in the mud so I unintentionally started to drift into nothingness. My senses went numb; I couldn't feel the cold mud seeping into my jacket or the cool breeze that was starting to pick up. The cawing night birds turned into a murky murmur and I was at peace.

~~~~PS: I would love it if you guys would leave some more reviews, I would really like to know what you think, what you think Olivia should do, what you think will happen. Thanks for reading!~~~~


	7. Chapter 7

19

I don't know how long I was asleep in the mud but I was interrupted by a muffled thud in the distance. Then there was a sudden gentle pressure on my arm that I wasn't laying on top of, flipping my over on my back. It took some effort to open my eyes and when I managed all I saw was a blur of darkness. I heard a muffled voice, I could barely tell what they said but I think they said my name. When I finally managed to blink my eyes a couple of times and clear my vision I saw a familiar face. It took me a while to register who it was but when I came to I saw Stiles' confused expression staring down at me.

"Olivia... what the hell happened to you?" I hear him say my name sounding strange coming from his lips. He is still gripping my arm to keep me from lying face down in the mud and when I see this I brace for pain as I realize he is holding the arm the large man crushed but it never comes. I yank it out of his grasp and scurry to my feet, no aches or pains there either. "What the hell happened" he repeats expecting an answer this time. When he realizes he isn't getting one he continues on with his questioning, _who does he think he Is, his cop dad or something? "_Where did that blood come from, are you hurt?" he says gesturing up near my face. _Ummm duh, doesn't he see the huge scratch stretching across my cheek? _I scoff and then bring a hand up to my cheek bone and brush it across me smooth skin. No blood. No scratch. "Olivia," he says my name sternly like when an adult talks to a disobedient child, "what happened to you?"

"Nothing." I say to buy more time to come up with a believable lie. He scoffs and looks around.

"Oh yea I'm so stupid, why wouldn't you decide to take a nap in the mud at 2 o'clock in the morning?" he says with belittling sarcasm and I hate him for making me feel stupid.

"I have low blood sugar." I spit so quickly it all runs together. I'm usual such a good liar, what's a matter with me?

"What?" he questions narrowing his eyes at me.

"I hadn't eaten all day and then I stupidly decided to go on a jog," I say scoffing at my self, "you know, training for track season. Maybe you should try it; your lacrosse game might improve." I say raising an eye brow to him. He straitens out of his questioning position with an exasperated look on his face.

"Why is there blood on you?" He says still not completely convinced.

"My nose started bleed in the high altitude." I say obviously being sarcastic, but this seemed enough to convince him, he seemed kind of relived, maybe surprised at my explanation.

"I should take you to the hospital." He says seemingly at war with himself.

"No, I'm good." I say amused at how cliché this seems.

"You were passed out in a ditch on the side of the road, yea your right as rain. I'm going there anyways just come on." He says gesturing back to the headlights that allow me to see his face.

"No really I'm fine, I just need to eat like a candy bar or something," I say hoping that that is what low blood sugar people do. "You could drop me off at home though; it's only about 5 minutes away from there." I say as I head for his car without waiting for his response. When I reach his car I fumble for the handle in the darkness. I finally manage to yank the door open; I immediately crawl in and sink into the warmth of the car. Then Stiles crawls in beside me and turns the key to make the engine roar to life. Before putting the car into gear he reaches behind his seat and pulls out a bottle of water.

"Want some water," he says, I don't know how thirsty I am until I am yanking the bottle out of his hand and frantically unscrewing the cap. His expression is hard to read as I take a large gulp of refreshing water, hints of concern with uncaring obligation. Then he reaches in front of him and shifts the car into drive and we are off speeding down the road with gravel kick up underneath of us. We are silent as I finish off the rest of my water and place the empty bottle in my lap. Then I remember that he knows something about all of this. He got his chance to question me, no it's my turn.

"Why are you going to the hospital?" I say as I watch him study the road.

"My friend's mom works there," realizing he needs to add more to his explanation for me to even think of excepting it he continues, "she forgot her keys so I'm bring them to her."

"Why doesn't your friend bring them to her?" I say catching him in his lie.

"Well…ah" he mumbles trying to search for an explanation.

"Let me guess… your picking up a prescription for hemorrhoid ointment?... Chlamydia test results? NO! Midnight sex change operation!" I say amused with myself. "That would be a shame." I add

"What" he says amused as well.

"Doing away with your XXL penis." I say with a smirk. He swerves over to the other lane before jerking the wheel back and I let out a burst of laughter.

"Who's the lucky girl that you were going to use the condom from class with?" I say joking with him. His laughing expression wilts into sadness and I realize, it's the missing girl. He stares hard at the road ahead and I study his face in the glow of the dashboard. His dark eyes look stressed and his spiky hair is mussed. His hands never stop fidgeting around the steering wheel and his left leg is jumping like crazy. "Anxious?" I question looking him up and down. He glances over in my direction in the passenger seat before jerking his gaze back to the road. I can see his brain working trying to come up with another lie.

"No, I just found something a little bit ago that kind of… shook me up." He says pressing his mouth into a hard line.

"And that was…?" I say waiting for his lame lie.

"A dead guy." He looks at me with a matter of fact expression before continuing. "It was some kind of animal attack… throat ripped out, claw marks." He says and by the expression on his face there is more that he isn't telling. I taste bile rising up my throat. Is Stiles protecting Boyd and Cora? They were about to rip Scott's throat out, they could certainly do it to someone else. "We're almost to the hospital, you going to tell me where to go from here?" he says snapping me to attention.

"Yea," I squeak, trying to gather myself. "It's umm, its right down the road here. Just keep going straight." I say as we pass the glowing florescent lights of Beacon Hills Hospital. I can see my dad's car waiting in his designated spot; I guess he was on call. "Turn left at the stop sign up here. It's at the end of the cul-de-sac." After a minute of silence we pull up in front of my house, enveloped in forest. Its big dark windows look uninviting and I am some what reluctant to crawl out of Stiles' jeep, but I do anyways. "Thanks Stiles." I say as I turn around gripping the side of his car door.

"Yea," he says seeming to soften to me. He hadn't seemed to enjoy my company.

"Hey," I blurt out before completely shutting the door. "How's Lydia?" he looks confused. "I just noticed you guys are friends and I hadn't talked to her in awhile…" I hate how my voice sounds saying this, like I'm weak and self conscious. "I mean after that guy attacked her I didn't real get to talk to her…"

"I wonder whose fault that was." He says with anger behind his eyes.

"I just… she's alright?" I question, anticipating an answer.

"Yea, she alright." He says sounding uncertain. Then he stares at me waiting for me to shut his door so he can speed off. And I do, I shut the door and walk up the small hill to my front door. I try not to look back; if I do he will know that I miss her.

I wait till I hear his tires screech off down the road before I turn around from my front door and head around the corner to my back yard. _Let me get all this straight in my head. The twins are the same as me so is that woman Kali and her big friend. They all answer to someone called __Deucalion__ and they want me. _I'm thinking as I fling open the gate in the fence around the pool to the woods and start up the familiar path. _Boyd and Cora went on a rampage and ripped a guys throat out, also like me, except the eyes. They also tried to kill Scott and Derek. Now they are going through the forest trying to find them. Are they like me too, what about Stiles and Lydia? Are they crazy hairy people too?_ Everything is out of control and I didn't know how many people knew about all of this. After 5 minutes of walking through the forest I finally found it, it doesn't look nearly as big as it used to and it is covered with leaves, but it's still the same, except there is no pale blue eyed boy waiting with a smile on his face at the peak of pride rock because he is out in the forest hunting for two dangerous beasts like me.


	8. Chapter 8

20

_The cool of the stone radiating through the fabric of my shorts only makes me more anxious and it seems to be getting cooler by the minute. I take out my hand-me down black berry and check the time for the 5 time. 10:04. he is a half hour late, that is like 3 hours for him, he is always here waiting and he pick today of all days to be late. I packed half of my closet and left the other half to try and keep my load light. I also brought four hundred dollar bills that I stole from my father's wallet, my emergency prepaid credit card, and Copper. _

_Isaac couldn't chicken out now, we had it all planned out, we are going to walk to the greyhound station and get a bus to San Diego, Isaac has a cousin that lives there, he is 21 and Isaac thinks he will let us stay with him. Just thinking about all of this made me even more restless, the cold of the stone became unbearable and me and Copper jump to our feet and start for the trail that Isaac follows home everyday. I have only been to Isaac's house twice because his dad doesn't like him to be friend's with girls so I could only go when he wasn't there, but I was still able to maneuver my way out of the woods and into his back yard. I tie Copper to a near by tree out of view from the house. The grass was long and brown littered with parts to some kind of work vehicle and I had to watch my step to not feel the sharp pain of metal permit through my thin flip flops. His house looked neglected with dirty white paint peeling; I guess his mother was the one that used to take care of the house._

_The house looked dead, but the screen door on the back porch was flapping openly in the summer breeze. His father sometimes takes Isaac to the cemetery with him what if we won't be able to leave today; I'll have to spend another torturous night with the sound of the silence between my parents and me, but why would they leave the back door wide open, maybe he didn't take Isaac with him and he is just running late. I'm sure he has a good explanation. I was broken from my consideration by a cry of pain. I was inches away from the open door and could tell from my distance that the sound had come from stairs leading down into a basement. If Isaac's dad is home and he sees me then it will ruin our whole plan. Instead of stepping into the house I scurried off to the side and crouched down in front of a small window at the base of the wall looking into the dim basement. I can barely make out a large figure standing in the basement holding something in his hand. He is tall so it must be Isaac's father. He is standing over something looking down on it. I can hear Isaac's father talking muffled and I can only tell what the object before him is when he moves and allows the daylight to pour through the window onto it, onto him. Isaac is crouched in the corner with his hands covering his face. His father had left up the rickety old stairs and I could now hear him in his kitchen. When he left the kitchen into a door down the hall I took my opportunity and ran for the screen door. I slowly made my way over to the basement door and inched it open. I tried to make as little squeaking noise on the stairs as possible and when I final made it to the bottom and rounded the corner to see a balled up Isaac shacking in the corner he didn't even look up._

"_Isaac?" I ran to his side and tried to lift his head from its drooping position, but it wouldn't budge._

"_Get out of here Olivia!" he hissed at me. That's the first time Isaac has ever taken an ill voice to me and it's like a slap to the face. I tear his arms away from their folded position around his face and lift his chin to face me. I can't help but gasp at the sight of a deep, bloody scratch stretched across the length of his face. I expect him to yank away and yell at me again, but instead heavy tears start to spill over the rims of his eyes and mix with the thick blood on his cheek and he collapses into me._

"_Isaac what happened to you?" I can barley get the words out. "Where's your dad, is he taking you to the hospital, he has to take you to the hospital." This only makes the tears come harder and faster. I don't understand, why isn't his dad helping? I lift his face to mine again and examine the wound. The tears begin to flow in my eyes at the sight of his uneven cut. Loose skin was hanging slightly and there were small pieces of wood splinters in it. "How did this happen?" I say as tears spill over my lashes. There is a broken piece of wood lying not far from me and Isaac with its raged edges smudged with blood. Then it clicks. "Isaac, did your dad do this?" I say hoping that I'm wrong, but when his teary eyes meet mine I know that it's true._

"_He found my bag that I packed, he found the money that I stole from him." he says through sob stricken breaths. He is holding on to me so tightly that I don't think he will ever let go until he remembers. "Olivia you have to get out." he says urgently shoving me from him._

"_No, Isaac you need to go to the hospital." I say trying to make my voice sound as stern as I can muster. _

"_He's coming back, he's coming back and if he sees you he'll get really mad." His eyes look like they are going to pop with concern; I don't know whether it's for me or himself. I'm about to protest when we hear heavy foot steps approaching the top of the stairs and beginning to descend. I jump to my feet and run to hide behind the stair case just in time for his father to reach the bottom. _

"_I found the key; I thought that maybe you stole that too you little shit." His father's voice sounds as dissatisfying as nails on a chalk board and I hear him jingling keys as he approaches Isaac. Through my hiding place all I can see is Isaac slumped on the floor and the muddy bottoms of his father's work boots. "Get up." His father commands. Isaac raises his head slightly just so he can see me, but still cowers underneath his arm. "Get up ya little shit!" he swiftly kicks Isaac in the side as I cover my mouth to keep from squeaking. Isaac's cry of pain brings even more tears to my eyes._

"_Dad please?" he mousess out still with out uncovering his head. His voice weak and childlike and his embarrassed expression shows that he is used to pleading with his father. However, Isaac's pleas don't detour him, his hand extends like an eagles claws to the back of Isaac's neck and violently yanks him to his feet. While his father's back is turned I scurry from my hiding place and run up the stairs to the bright kitchen. I don't even look back to see what happens to Isaac, I just keep running into the forest, past pride rock, and into the safety of my own backyard. My steps are heavy and reluctant, but my fear allows no reluctance in my mind. _


	9. Chapter 9

21

I can barley keep my eyes open as I stand in the shower with my head resting against the wall letting the steamy heat of the water envelope me. I spent the night in the pool house not wanting to wake my mother now I finally get to wash the long dried grim of the road side ditch off of my stiff body. Along with a sleepless night of pondering my new clues I have to be at school 45 minutes early today, it's the first day of track practice and coach insists on having early morning runs this year. I think I had enough running through the forest when I was getting chased by homicidal lunatics.

When I finally have all the dried blood shampooed out of my hair I grab my robe and stumble down stairs to make a pot of coffee. I usually don't drink coffee, it makes you shorter and gives you bad breath, but today I'll make an exception. When I enter the kitchen my mother is waiting with an ugly look on her face. As I begin to pour the coffee grounds into the filter something rare occurs and my mother speaks to me. Not so rare, she is bitching at me about something.

"I hope all that partying is worth ruining your mother's job over." Her snare voice drips out.

"What…" I say bored already.

"I heard you come in at four in the morning. Your cloths are drenched in mud and probably vomit in the laundry room. If you're making a fool of your self out there that's fine, but don't have it reflecting back on me." she says with a venomous look. I am too stunned to respond right away. I almost got killed last night and now I am getting bitched at about my mother's worthless career.

"Maybe you should let it reflect back on you; people might think you are more fun instead of a nasty old witch with a stick up her ass." I say barley even acknowledging her and laughing to myself at her complete stupidity. I expect yelling defensiveness, but instead I get a small huff as she slowly rises out of her stool at the counter and walks towards me. She stops a foot in front of me with her wrinkly arms crossed over her stomach, trying to be intimidating. She is about a head shorter than me and I have to angle my head down to meet her crows feet eyes, her shit brown hair is raised in a frizzy disarray, she is hardly more intimidating than a fly that you just can't seem to swat.

"Just leave… what's stopping you." She says her voice in a taunting whisper. She wouldn't be saying this if she didn't know that I wouldn't leave, it's bad for her reputation, **MAYORAL CANIDATE'S DAUGHTER MOVES OUT AT 16. **I would leave in a second if I had a place to go. Her parenthesized mouth moves into a small smirk, thinking that she had won the argument.

"What and leave you and daddy alone?" I say this with a humorous edge fighting to keep a straight face at the word "daddy". "No I couldn't do that, they would eat you alive… two washed up old farts with high blood sugar and cataracts, no that wouldn't do, I have to keep you guys young, personable. With out your sweet, beautiful daughter to share the limelight you two might as well be at the retirement home. That is after all the whole point, am I wrong?" I say as her face morphs into steely embarrassment. I brush past her with my newly brewed mug of coffee and bound up the stairs to my room trying not to drudge too much to the surface of my consciousness.

22

"… and then Meckey talked her into do a keg stand after she was already like hammered and she threw up everywhere, it was so disgusting, I would die of embarrassment if I were her." Kelsey was yammering about Danny's back to school party that I had missed and I couldn't help but zone out, it all seemed so repetitive and meaningless after what I had experienced last night. "… It was dripping down Diana's face and it was all in her hair then when Lena tried to help her she threw up on her and Lena was just like screw it." Kelsey finished as she shoves her jeans into her locker and kneels to tie her sneakers. "I really wish you were there, it wasn't the same without you."

"I don't" I say without effort.

"What?" Kelsey says with a surprised expression.

"It's just I got like no sleep last night and… I don't know, I'm just like really out of it." I say trying to recover so this conversation can end. "No big deal." I say as I push my lock into place and head for the door in the back of the locker room that leads to the track. As I'm pushing the door open Kelsey flashes a concerned expression before continuing her droning play by play of the party, but my attention is averted to the back of a pale blonde head sitting on a stone bench at one of the lunch tables outside. Half of me hopes that he will turn and meet my eyes, but the other half knows that even if he does it will be the same as always, brief eye contact and a guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach. So I keep walking over to coach with my eyes to the ground.

"Up for this season Lenox?" coach says looking up from his clip board of attendance.

"Of coarse Coach!" I chirp back with my usual confident smirk despite my not so usual feeling.

"You been training at all or did you let yourself go like some of these other yahoos?"

"Would I disappoint you Coach?" I say as I turn to survey the damage that lazy summers had on my teammates. My gaze lands on my new "friends" Ethan and Adien sundering out of the door to the boys locker room with hoodies zipped tight over there muscular shoulders. The sight of them makes my stomach turn remembering the sick smile stretched across there big friends sharp teeth. They make there way up a small hill and begin there stretches there eyes zeroed in on the reopening door to boy's locker room. Scott McCall emerges from the doorway closely followed by Stiles. Stiles is intently explaining something to Scott and he doesn't seem to be to interested. They approach the bench that I was trying to keep my attention from and continue talking behind him. He reaches down to tie the laces of his sneakers, after he finishes tying one he adverts his eyes up and I quickly look away so he won't see me looking before realizing his eyes aren't directed towards me, but instead the twins who have stopped stretching and are returning his gaze menacingly. A fire burns in Isaac's pale eyes and the twins give him a superior smirk before turning and heading for the front of the line of students ready to begin their jog. Isaac barley finishes tying his other shoe before jumping up angrily.

"Whoa, Isaac what's wrong?" I heard Scott say just before Isaac starts towards the cocky twins.

"It's them," Isaac snarls, "from the bank." Scott senses Isaac's rigidness and a worried expression crosses his face.

"Isaac, don't do anything, not yet," He urges, but Isaac heard coaches whistle and darts off after the twins who have already disappeared from view. Scott exchanges an urgent glance with Stiles before barreling off after Isaac. I am left behind as the rest of my teammates slowly begin jogging. Just me and Stiles, who gives me a quick nod after noticing my presence, are standing in the clearing awkwardly. He begins slowly jogging after the others.

My legs begin to push forward down the path that the others have followed. _What the hell is Isaac doing? Does he know what those twins could do to him? Their friend nearly broke my arm off and I'm the same as them. _I begin to jog faster and faster passing group after group of people with out even processing their faces. I'm not thinking of anything, but the fact that those twins could easily kill him. I have passed the slow joggers and now I am running alone dodging trees and rocks. Then I hear a grunt of pain and a body hitting the leafy ground with two sets of feet circling it. I round the corner and slow down as I see Scott running in front of me.

"Ethan, I don't remember," I hear Adian's snarlly voice start, "how many bones are in the human body?"

"I don't know, let's count." I see Ethan holding Isaacs arm back and pulling it to its limits. My breath gets caught in my throat, I can hear the ligaments in his shoulder beginning to tear and I almost scream before Scott closes in with Adian in his sights. I duck behind a near by rock the size of my living room coach and peer over the side. I hear the bone crunch as Scott's fist collides with Adian's jaw.

"One" Scott says as Adian's body hits the ground and Isaac sprawls his arms out throwing the other twin to the ground. Scott and Isaac back off as the twins angrily climb to there feet. Their faces contort into feverishly angry growls and theirs eye's glow piercing red. I feel my teeth extending and my body becomes ridged as I realize that if I don't do something the twins will surly kill Isaac. I prepare to jump out from behind my rock when I hear two more ear piercing growls, not the same as the twin's. One is protective and the other is insecure. I peer over the rock once again, but instead of two or even three growling beasts there are four; Adian, Ethan, Scott, and the pale blued eyed boy. Expect his signature eyes glow yellow instead of gleam blue. My heart sinks, I thought Scott could be a glowing eyed beast, but I never let myself think this could happen to Isaac. They don't give me time to contemplate, if I don't do something the twins will.

"You guys better be more careful," I say as I throw myself out from behind my rock trying to muster up as much confidence as possible, "someone might see what you are." I have a calm and knowing expression to hide my fear. "What is that by the way?" I switch eye contact between the boys excluding Isaac's, partly because I don't want to see the hate in his eyes when he looks at me and partly because if I see the yellow glow in his eyes my confident façade will crumble and I won't be able to stop the tears. Scotts confused yellow eyes switch from mine to the direction that a crowd parting scream comes from. All four boys begin running to the distant scream and avoid my question. I can't stop a smile from spreading across my face, I don't know why.

I slowly follow towards the scream, it was probably just some whiny bitch that couldn't handle the jog and sprained her ankle or something. The boys' urgent expressions and the haste with which they were running to the scream makes me curious and I begin running too, not nearly as fast as the four boys who have now disappeared from my normal view. The pictures of the boys' expressions are caught in my head and an even bigger smile spreads across my face at the image of Scott's guilty expression, like a child getting caught up past bedtime. I close the distance behind the boys and the rest of my teammates who are gathered around a tree. A boy is leaning up against it on the other side; I can't make out who it is or why my teammates look so surprised. My new senses know what's going on before I do and my amused expression wilts as I realize that this boy has no heart beat. I finally take in the details of the situation; the pale, cool appearance of his skin, the mud stains streaking his Kaki pants, the dark dried blood dripping down over a leather strap that is fastened around his neck. A huge knot balls up in my stomach and it gnaws at the lining of it. I flex the muscles in my throat to keep it from coming up, but my steely expression remains unfazed, nobody can see Olivia Lenox weak.

"Kyle!" I hear a desperate voice shriek, "no Kyle!" Millie Davis is being held back from who I now know is her boyfriend Kyle Stevens hanging limp from the near by tree by the newly arrived policeman. Her tear streaked face is contorted in a desperate cry. Kyle is Aaron's cousin, me Millie and them used to hang out, Kyle was one of the nicest guys in Beacon hills, one of those guys that always talked about getting out of school and joining the military, severing his country and all that, now he's dead.

I don't know how I'm able to hold up my detached expression as Coach hales a grief stricken Millie back over to the back entrance of the school. The cops are ushering everyone out of the new crime scene with police tape ready to be hung, I unintentionally comply and follow the rest of the shaken up kids back to the lunch benches outside the school doors. Some of the girls are crying, I doubt they have ever even talked to Kyle, they are all losers, but they feel obligated to show sadness, they don't realize they are only showing frailty and self doubt. As I look at all of the fearful faces my gaze lands on Isaac. His face is infuriated and urgent. He is huddled near by Scott and Stiles discussing something.

"…I don't care, they did this." Isaac's voice matches what I gather from his face, he is enraged with his fiery eyes locked on the twins standing 100 feet away. "What do you think it's a coincidence that they show up in town just in time for people to start dying again?" his question directed at Stiles.

"I just think that there is something else out there killing people and I just don't what to be distracted casing after the twins when other people could be dying." Stiles looks to Scott questioningly to see whose side he will take, but Scott is focused on something else. His worried eyes are directed towards me, Stiles follows his gaze and meets his eyes with mine just before his usual confused expression returns. I half expect Isaac to do the same but he is staring down at his dirt stained running shoes, of course he wouldn't look up. A small smirk whispers across my lips before I turn, headed for the door to the girls locker room. Just before they cut out of my peripheral vision I think I see Isaac's head lift up in my direction, but instead of hate in his eyes its sadness, then I know for sure that it's just my mind playing tricks.


	10. Chapter 10

22

I could feel Scott and Stiles' eyes on me all through English. No doubt Scott already told Stiles that I know about them. Every time I would lock eyes with him he would give me a suspicious look as he stared me down. I don't wane from intimidation, but it does start to get annoying.

After none stop suspicion I decided it was time to confront them and stop there minds from reeling with anticipation. When the bell rang after fourth period I headed strait for the cement lunch tables outside, bypassing the lunch line. Stiles had already claimed a table on the outskirts of the clusters of students. He was probably waiting for Scott and Isaac to join him. Isaac never used to talk to them, as a matter of fact Isaac never used to talk to anyone, but the last year or so he's had someone, either Erica the dead girl or these two. The thought that he wasn't alone makes me smile as I push open the glass doors onto the open quad and head for the lone boy. At the sight of me his hyper-active body stiffens and his fingers curl up into ridge fists on either side of his tray of food, his eyes locked on mine as I take the seat opposite him.

"Thanks for the ride last night." I say with a playful expression on my face. He licks his lips and looks around like he is getting ready to say something, but doesn't know the right words. "I could have died out there… attacked by some kind of… animal, like that guy you found." His eyes are still locked on mine, searching them for clues.

"How much do you know?" He says leaning in with his voice almost a whisper.

"I don't know you tell me," I say as I pluck a deep purple grape off of his tray and pop it into my mouth. He stares at me waiting for me to continue. "I know that your best friend grows long nails and sharp teeth when he gets a little angry, I know that Boyd and that girl were on a rampage through the forest last night, and I know that those twins are mixed up in some messed up shit." He leans back with an impressed look on his face.

"Oh that's all." He says sarcastically.

"The only thing I don't know is what they are. What do you call them?"

"Why should I tell you?" he is staring deeper into my eyes than before trying to figure me out.

"Let's just say," I begin as I reach out with an unmanicured hand and place my sharp nails on top of Stiles' rigid hand, "me and Scott are kind of in the same situation." I say running my nails up his arm gently. He glances down at his arm before pulling it away startled. When his eyes make there way back to mine he sees the red glow in my eyes and his brows knit together in a confused expression. "So…" I begin as I reach out and spear another one of Stiles' grapes with my nail, "you going to tell me what I am?" I say just before tossing the grape into my mouth. Before he has a chance to answer his gaze switches behind me, I turn around slowly to find Scott with another signature worried, puppy dog face. Isaac is standing a couple feet behind looking anywhere, but at me. "Hey Scott!" I say with a big smile on my face, "your friend here is being a little difficult. You wanna help me out? I'm sure you heard most of that, I really don't feel like explainignit again." His expression tells me that he has no intention on telling me anything. Behind him I see the twins take there seats at the table that Kelsey directed them towards, my table. "Never mind, I think I can get my information elsewhere." I say as I swing my legs over the side of the bench and stand gracefully to my feet, not looking back as I walk over to the two dirty blonde beasts sitting at the usual lunch table. Kelsey and the others had left and it was those two sitting alone, anticipating my approach. I grab the seat on the other side of the table so I can still see my new friends staring confusedly after me, discussing something. I am prepared to grab the upper hand like I did with my other group of suspects, but Adian, at least I think that one is Adian, beats me two it.

"Hey Liv!" he says with a big cock smile on his face. "We finally took you up on your offer." _Is he still trying to flirt? _The fact that he is acting like nothing happened, like his friends didn't almost kill me in the forest, like they didn't almost break every bone in Isaacs body, is making my feel like I won't be able to hold down those grapes.

"Yea, I don't know if I'm going to be able to take you up on yours though." I say with a fake look of regret.

"Oh you mean what Kali talked to you about last night?" he says, toying with me.

"Yea, I don't really respond well to brut force." I say with an unchanging expression.

"Ennis can be a little rough around the edges, sorry about that." Ethan interjects, seemingly sincere on the surface, but I know better.

"you two seem to be a little rough around the edges too, what could poor Isaac have done to you to deserve that?" saying his name for the first time in years feels like I should have been saying it all along.

"He's messing in business that isn't his." Adian says, the smile slipping further and further off his lips.

"If were all the same why isn't it his business?" I say hoping they will slip up and give something away.

"He's not… the same as us!" Adian says angered and maybe a little insulted.

"What is he then, what are we?" I say hungry to know more.

"We're power." Adian leans in with his cocky smile returning, bigger than ever. We lock eyes for what seems like forever and I feel my confident exterior melt into weakness as the seconds tick by and I hate myself for it. The stare down only ceases when Kelsey, Danny, and Jenn take their seats around us.

My insides curdle as I watch these two talk and laugh with my friends like nothing is wrong, I dismiss myself to the bathroom blaming it on cramps. As I get up and float back into the building I lock eyes with Isaac and I know that he had been listening, his eyes filled with confusion and sadness. We have meet eyes many times, but this time it lasts and I never want it to end, but it does. I barley make it to the bathroom just inside the doors before the dame inside my head shatters and the tears spill down my cheeks. Once inside the bathroom I clutch the closest sink in order to keep me on my feet. A mascara saturated tear smacks against the shiny ceramic sink and that one tear is all the motivation it takes to hold back the others and begin work on a new dame. When I bring my head up to survey the mascara drips down my face I catch a flash of strawberry blonde hair in my peripheral vision. Lydia is standing at the mirror furthest from me with a deer caught in the headlights expression and a tube of lip gloss clutched in her hand. My usual confident façade returns to my face at the sight of her and I expect her to do the same, we developed them together, but instead of her bitchy smirk a sad expression wilts her wide eyes. She looks almost empathetic as I turn abruptly and breeze out the door into the jungle of students returning to their classes.


	11. Chapter 11

23

When I enter the hallway after 5th period and waded through the pool of students towards Mr. Harris' chem. Class I am intercepted by Diana Miracle with an urgent look on her face. She probably has a new piece of gossip to spread around.

"Liv, your friends with those new twins right." She says, looking like she is about to burst with secrets.

"Yea," I have to push the word out and it doesn't sound sincere.

"That freak Isaac Lahey just beat the shit out of Ethan!" my eyes widen and I can't help, but laugh with pleasure. She's still talking, something about how Isaac was in jail last year, he had been accused of killing his father, but Jackson got him off the hook. She has a look on her face like she is waiting for praise. "But anyways, I saw the whole thing, I just came from chem. With him and we heard a whole bunch of banging in the hall and we all ran out and Ethan was lying on the floor, there was so much blood. I think that Isaac guy is like a sociopath or something, he probably threatened Jackson and that's the only reason he retracted his statement last year. All he got was detention, can you believe that?" She looks like she might cry when she doesn't get the praise she is anticipating as I breeze past her and into Mr. Harris' class.

My body is filled with joy, at least one of those twins got what he deserved and Isaac was the one that got to give it to him.

24

I finally made it to 7th period, the free period I was anticipating, I had it with Stiles and I was awaiting squeezing the answers that I yearn for out of him. I enter the library to find him sitting at a table with Lydia looking like he is trying to convince her of something and she wasn't buying it. I sauntered right up and pressed my hands down on the cold table in front of them, snapping them both to attention.

"Hey guys," I say with big smile on my face, "can I borrow him for a second. "I say directed towards Lydia, but still not meeting her eyes. Stiles stands to his feet and gives a reassuring glance to Lydia before directing me towards the hall. "You guys are cute." He ignores my comment and gets right down to business.

"I don't know what your trying to do or if your part of all that alpha pack shit, but it's not gonna work ok?" the expression on my face shows that I don't know what he is talking about, but he doesn't trust it. A teacher standing at the end of the hall giving us a suspicious look so I shove Stiles down a near by hall and into the big empty auditorium. There is a couple of stoners passing around a joint in the back rows of seats, but they quickly vacate there seats and head for the door when I give them a sharp look, laughing and mimicking me in hippy voices as they open the door to leave.

"I don't want anything from you, but a simple explanation." I say staring him down. "I just want you to tell me what the hell I have changed into!" I can tell that my face looks weak and confused and I hate it.

"Look I don't know if you are just trying to play some kind of trick or something, but I can't see how you can't know what you are if you're an alpha."

"An Alpha?" my forehead wrinkles in confusion and his does the same.

"Yea, that's why your eyes are red." He says this hesitantly like he doesn't know if he is telling me something I already know. I try to make sense of this, but I can't.

"Why does Scott have yellow eyes?" I say hungry to know more.

"Because he's not an alpha." He says with an expression that seems to say "duh".

"No I mean what is he then?" I say exasperated and losing my patience

"He's just a regular wolf! Just plain, I don't know!" he says sensing my intolerance.

"What?"

"He's plain?" He says furrowing his eye brows.

"No, the wolf thing. What do you mean a wolf?"

"werewolf." My mind is reeling and I don't hear anything, but the pounding in my ears. _A werewolf? I'm a fucking werewolf?_ My legs feel like jello and my mouth is dry. I grab for a near by auditorium chair and Stiles hands extend to steady me.

"You mean like a werewolf werewolf? Like all the hair face, full moon, turning in to a fucking dog bull shit?" I squeak and he gives one short nod in response. "SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT IM A FUCKING DOG!" I can't help, but yell and Stiles has to silence me for me to remember that we're hiding. I bury my face in my hands and don't bring it up until I have composed myself. When I bring my head up I see a surprisingly calm Stiles staring at me.

"So we have established that you're a werewolf?" he says this like it's the most normal thing in the world. I feel like he picks the most aggravating times to be sarcastic. He leans against the back of a seat a row in front of me and waits for me to continue.

"So Scott and the twins, their all…" I don't want to even say the word.

"Yea." He says without needing to hear it.

"And you, are you a…?"

"A werewolf? No. I'm just a plain old human; my dad says I'm special though." He says with his usual sarcastic look.

"So there are werewolves… does that mean that there's like vampires and mummies and all that fairy tail shit?" I say hoping that it's a joke.

"No, no vampires, but there is an all powerful alpha pack that is terrorizing beacon hills." He says with a flakey pleasant smile. Before I get a chance to question this we're interrupted by a sudden thunderous roar and I flinch at first thinking it might be the twin's friends coming to finish me off. Stiles starts towards the auditorium doors and I follow closely behind. We emerge from the doors just in time to see a shiny black motorcycle, one of the twin's, whizzing down the empty hallway, the rider's identity hidden by a black helmet. He gets to the lobby of the school when he is intercepted by a fiery eyed Adian. Adian's knuckles are curled so tight around the handle bars of his bike that his knuckles are pure white.

"Get off my bike!" he hisses with his sharp teeth bared. Stiles and I inch in behind the two of them as the rider pulls his bulky black helmet off to reveal a smiling Isaac.

"No problem." He says as he sets the helmet onto the seat of the bike. Isaac then is in the air as fast as the motorcycle had speed down the hallway. He flies over Adian's head and lands on his feet behind him his smile bigger than ever. He slowly backs away and crosses his arms over his muscular chest as Adian swings his leg over the side of his bike just in time for students and teachers to filter out of their classrooms wide eyed.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Ms. Blake squawks at Adian as she shoves her way to the front of the crowd of smiling students. "Detention Adian." Scott and Allison are at the head of the crowd of students with matching smiles to Isaac's and I feel one creep across my face as well. Not for Adian's sake, but because I haven't seen Isaac's deviously nice smile in a long time and it's like when you stay up all night and finally get to see the sunrise that you have been waiting for.


	12. Chapter 12

25

My groggy eyes slowly focus to the harsh light of the morning sun as I am alerted by a sharp pain it my head. Before I have time to sit up right we hit another bump and my head bounces of the cold glass of the school bus window again. The long boring early morning rides on a bus that smells like sweat socks to other districts is the worst part of track season and this one couldn't be going worse. We have been sitting in traffic for who knows how long in the middle of nowhere, all you can see for miles is dry, dusty hills like a desert. It's hard to believe there would even be this many cars out in a place like this, the roads are pact with waiting cars and they are beginning to pile up behind us. The bus has been inching along for hours now but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I turn over to find a snoring Kelsey in my face; her brown curls are draped over her eyes and are beginning to be weighed down with the weight of wet drool. I strategically picked a set equal distance away from all my fellow wolves so I have a good shot at hearing something, Ethan sits to rows in front with Danny at his side, Isaac and Boyd sit a few rows ahead of them and Scott and Stiles are a row behind in the opposite column of seats. However I am driven from my perfectly placed seat when Kelsey starts to get a little too snuggled and lays her damp head on my shoulder. I maneuver my way over her outstretched legs and stager over to the seat in front of Scott and Stiles. Scott has his t-shirt lifted up to reveal a deep black claw mark stretching across his abdomen. As they see me approach Scott slowly lowers his shirt with a grimace of pain and turns his attention to me.

"That looks like it hurts," I say with my signature sarcastic pout. "Maybe you should get a band aid or something." I don't know what I expect from them after my sarcastic comments, but it's not the look that Stiles shoots me. His eyes are stricken with worry not on the surface, but it's there. His expression tells me that I shouldn't be making jokes right now and the air thickens with seriousness. "Why isn't he healing?" another wolf perk, the wolf body is not only more durable than the human body, but also has a quicker healing processes.

"We don't know." Stiles says as the color drains from his face.

"Well why is it taking so long?"

"Because it was from an alpha." Scott grunts out through gritted teeth. After Isaac's stunt with Adian's bike I got a chance to get all of this stuff explained to me, even though I think there is something they still aren't telling me. Alphas are stronger then Betas and an alpha like me must have attack Scott, a Beta signified by his yellow eyes while Alphas have red. Scott lets out another grimace of pain, in reaction to this Stiles reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.

"Who are you calling" Scott shoves out in a mumble of pain.

"Lydia and Allison."

"What are they going to do there back in Beckon Hills?"

"No they're not; they've been behind us the whole time." Stiles says as he turns around to look out through the big back window of the bus at a startled Lydia four or five cars behind. She's arguing with Allison, probably deciding weather to answer her phone or not. He starts to explain things too the two girls as their worried voices radiate through the small speaker. I bet Ethan or one of his friends, the alpha pack, did this too Scott. Wolf packs usually consist of an alpha leader and betas to follow, but in the twins case it's a bunch of powerful alphas together to make a pack that seems unbeatable. According to Stiles, the alpha pack moved into Beacon Hills with malicious intent towards primarily Derek Hale. Derek is an Alpha, I don't know if it's a territory thing like when dogs pee on fire hydrants and stuff, but whatever the reasons they are here as a threat, of course my information could be biased, Stiles isn't exactly the most reliable source, but it doesn't seem surprising considering my run ins with the alphas.

Another pained whimper squeezes through Scotts lips drawing my attention to him. His eyes are pinched shut in agony and his one hand is clutching his abdomen while the other is gripping the back of the seat in front of him so hard that his knuckles turn white. I have an overwhelming urge to grab the hand gripping the seat cushion, just to reassure him that he's going to be alright, but the looks of his wound make me fear otherwise.

The deep black liquid is now oozing through the soft gray fabric of his t-shirt, he tries to cover it with his leather jacket I guess to make everything see fine. He is taking in short and jagged breaths and his face is beginning to look worn and tired, his eyes are less pinched now but more weighted like all of his energy is draining out with the black blood staining his shirt. I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I don't know Scott that well, but I want him to be ok and the weary look on his face has me wanting to shake him awake, your not supposed to let hurt people fall asleep, it's in all the movies. Just then Stiles finishes up on the phone and slides it back into is pocket.

"So… what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, but I have to get him off the bus. There is a rest stop a mile or so up, we can meet Allison there and I guess she'll figure out something." Stiles says as he looks around nervously.

"Coach is not going to stop the bus." I say with a "your screwed" expression on my face.

"Well then I'll just have to figure out something." He says with a matter of fact expression as he stands up and brushes past me towards the front of the bus. As Stiles approaches Coach I again have the urge to comfort Scott. He is slumped down in his seat with his eyes fluttering open between throbs of pain. I stand up and take Stile's empty seat next to Scott, careful not to get to close.

"Scott, I think you should wake up." No response. "Scott, come on open your eyes." I say, his unresponsiveness causes me to question if Stiles is too late, maybe he is too far gone. With out even thinking about it I reach for his hand laid flat on his knee and at the touch of his skin a fire burns through my finger tips, up through the veins in my arm, and seem to be absorbed when they reach my chest. It was a brief pain, but it was excruciating and I take in a jagged breath simultaneously as Scotts eyes flutter open and this time he is alert even if for the briefest of seconds. All of a sudden I hear shouts coming from the front of the bus and repeated whistle blowing, I look up to find Coach with whistle in hand an infuriated Stiles sulking back towards us. He rubs his face with his hands exasperated and out of options taking the seat that I had vacated.

"What are you going to do Stiles?" I say with a steely expression.

"I don't know," he says his voice quivering and his eyes searching anywhere for an answer.

"Stiles," I wait for him to look at me before continuing, his brown eyes showing how much he doesn't want to deal with me right now, "Stiles I think you need to consider that you might be too late." He sort of rolls his eyes and dismisses me with this statement and begins rubbing the back of his neck, _what does he hope he'll find the answers behind his ears? _"Stiles he can't even open his eyes."

"Can you just shut up! Okay…" he yells causing a snoring Kelsey to shift in her sleep. "He can heal, we just need to get him to Allison and find out what's wrong with him or something."

"We're a mile away from the rest stop, Coach isn't going to stop, what are you going to carry him there?" I try to reason with him, but his eyes are still searching for a solution. Without a word Stiles jumps up and heads to the front of the bus, probably to senselessly argue with coach some more, but instead he takes a seat next to a sickly Jared Barnhart popping motion sickness pills and breathing in puffs of his inhaler. My attention is averted back to the motionless Scott sprawled out next to me. Hesitantly I reach for his hand again. The pain was obviously unpleasant, but I wanted to see what it was. My hand hovers above his and quivers anticipating the pain that will come if I lower my hand an inch or so. I eye Scott nervously and then just do it. I squeeze my eyes shut as the fire courses through my veins and try my hardest to hold back any shrieks of pain. I don't know how long my hand is on top of his, but I tare it away when I hear a meek voice sound next to me. I open my eyes watery with tears and see that Scotts eyes are opened also, he looks serene like all of the pain that he had had just disappeared or been absorbed… by me.

"Where's Stiles?" Scott squeaks out before clutching his abdomen like the pain has now decided to return. I'm too stunned to answer and soon Scott is in to much pain again to hear it. He is more alert now and tries his hardest to keep his eyes open, but I'm not sure that will even be enough. We're still not any closer to stopping at the rest stop and the bottom of Scott's shirt is now drenched in the black blood oozing from his three jagged claw marks. Stiles is standing now, but still saying something to Jared. Jared's head jerks forward and simultaneously Stiles dodges out of the way of a heavy stream of vomit pouring out of Jared mouth. This is followed by the sickly sweet smell and ear piercing shrieks from those around.

"Jared, aw no!" Coach yells from his seat behind the bus driver. "Pull off to the rest stop up here." He says motioning to the near by sign with a sour look. Stiles rushes to the back of the bus with a triumphant look on his face, I stand up and let him reclaim his seat next to Scott.

"I guess I really didn't think about the fact that we have to sit here with the smell and all till we make it to the rest stop, but I couldn't think of anything else." Stiles says picking another terrible time to be making jokes. "Oh my god, it's rolling back hear," he says crinkling his noise up in a discussed expression as I draw my feet up on to my seat. "Aw that's not kosher." He says closing one eye in repulsion and looking at the ground with the other at which I can only guess is a chunk of Jared's breakfast. Traffic begins moving again and just in time to haul an agonized Scott off of the vomit bus and lean him against a near by tree to wait for Allison to catch up. Sweat beads are forming at Scott's temples and his eye lids begin to become weighted once again. Stiles has gone out to the corner to watch for the girls, I am left alone with a dying Scott. I grab his limp hand and brace for the pain that is sure to come.


	13. Chapter 13

25

The fire courses through my arms and up into my chest where my steady heart is up in flames. The time seems to tick by slowly, it can only be minutes since Stiles left to meet Allison and Lydia, but it feels like hours. I don't think I can handle the pain, Scott's pain, any longer. My teeth are clenched tight holding down a scream and the sound barrier is about to break until I hear a soft whisper of my name. My eyes fly open and the pain stops. Stiles is standing behind me flanked by Lydia and Allison.

"How long has he been like this?" Allison questions, eyes locked on Scott's face which is twisted with his returned pain.

"Since I picked him up this morning," Stiles says looked at Allison helplessly, "he said it would heal." He continues, almost to himself. Allison's gaze switches from Scott's face to mine and then down two my hands which are still clenched around Scott's. _Why are girls so God damn territorial? _

"We should get him inside where I can look at him." she says starting to look bemused. I release my grip from his hand, which I had been squeezing so tight that it was bright red, and hoist him up onto my shoulder when Stiles scurries to his other side. I help him half way to the dingy rest stop bathroom before Allison pushes my out of the way and takes my place at Scott's side. I can't help, but laugh to myself at her possessiveness. I watch them carry Scott off to the germ infested bathroom finding myself praying that Scott will hold on.

"What's wrong with him." a voice sounds behind me that I dream about. I turn around to Isaac's pale blue eyes watching after Scott and only assume (hope) that he is talk to me. I am almost too stunned to answer and only do when his eyes meet mine making my stomach drop in disbelief.

"I—I don't know," I say weakly, but I can't even bring myself to care about my vulnerability. Almost more then the fact that he is speaking to me I am surprised to see no hate in his eyes, but only worry. "He has a big gash in his stomach, it wasn't healing for some reason, he could barley keep his eyes open." I am so thrilled that he is speaking to me that I don't want to stop and when he starts off I can't stop myself from reaching for him. "Isaac…" I grab the bottom hem of his t-shirt in an effort to keep him here, just near me, that's all I want. He turns his head with his eyes locked on my hand clutching his shirt; his eyes slowly trace my arm up to my hopeful face. All of the worry, fear, sadness that I saw in his familiar eyes was melted away by white hot hatred and my heart begins to flood with the tears that I won't allow to flow from my eyes. I feel a gentle, but firm pressure on my hand and look down at his hand beginning to grasp mine. I expect it, but I am not prepared for it. He pries my fingers from his shirt before shoving my hand away like I am diseased. My heart cracks in three places while my bones become weak. My shoulders go limp and my brain shuts down, I don't want to process anything I am seeing, I just run one thing through my head, Isaac. My brain doesn't realize Isaac is running across the field, enraged, with Ethan in his sights. It doesn't realize the force with which Isaac has grasped Danny by the shoulder and cast him aside. It doesn't realize the sound of Isaac's fist colliding with the soft cartilage of Ethan's nose. It doesn't realize any of this until the grass around is drenched with Ethan's blood and a large crowd of track runners has congregated around the attack. I am so surprised when I focus a little that I don't notice when Stiles shows up beside me.

"What's going on?" he says looking between me and the crowd of students. I barely acknowledge him before running over there myself. After pushing my way to the front of the crowd I find Danny on the ground, he most have been freshly shoved. I knell over and lightly shove his chest as he tries to get back up and pull Isaac off. All I can say is "no" as Danny continues to try and help Ethan, from this he gets it and joins me in watching all of this unfold. I am mesmerized by the snap of Ethan's head as it repeatedly collides with Isaac's fist. I saver every arc of Isaac's arm coming back in for another hit. The blood trickling down Ethan's face is among ever blade of grass.

"Lahey!" Coach screams from across the field. He has charged at the group and shoved himself to the center. "Lahey get the hell off of him!" he yells as he tries to get a steady grasp on Isaac's shoulder. His attempts don't seem to faze Isaac; he simply brushes him off and continues the beating. I feel like I should try and stop him, but I can't, I won't. I can only assume that the twins almost killed Scott considering Isaac's reaction to my explanation, they deserve everything that Isaac is giving to Ethan and I don't want him to stop.

"Isaac!" a strong voice roars from the back of the crowd. He still isn't fazed until Scott joins the front of the crowd with Allison under his shoulder as a support. "Isaac STOP!" Scott bellows in a masterful voice that doesn't seem like it could come from the boy who was just curled up in the bus seat wasting away. Isaac stops, mid swing, and turns his pale blue eyes to Scott. He pauses for a moment before releasing his firm grip on the collar of Ethan's shirt that is now stained with blood. People rush to help Ethan as Coach jumps on Isaac. He starts to say how he is going to be in so much trouble, but when we get back because he needs him for the meet today.

Now that the bus has been cleaned of all things Jared we are on our way, back in our original seats. Kelsey yammers about Isaac, I long to be rid of her for the moment, she doesn't talk about anything that means anything. Only things to fill the air of her boring live that will never mean anything as well.

Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about other people. –Eleanor Roosevelt


	14. Chapter 14

26

"Two to a room… no funny business!" Coach yells as he hands out room keys at the bus door. "I want everyone to stay in their rooms all night… no sex okay!" We had rushed all day to get to the meet only to find out that it had been delayed. We were in the middle of no where at 11 o'clock at night, Coach figured we shouldn't start the 4 hour drive back in the night so we stopped at a dingy motel like you would see truck driver rapist stop at in movies. I grab a key out of Coach's hand, naturally Kelsey assumes I want to room with her, and head for the rickety old stairs up to room 220. the place is old and falling apart, on my way up the stairs the heel of my stiletto gets caught in a whole in the old metal step, despite my new found agility my clumsiness still shows through on occasion and I fall head first, arms out stretched to the cold dirty metal until a strong steady hand embraces my forearm cushioning my drop. The warm, pale fingers that were wrapped around my arm quickly release and Isaac scurries up the stairs ahead, only briefly turning with a steely look to see if I had steadied myself. The hate in his eyes that burned through me at the rest stop is forever imprinted in my mind and my knees go weak with the memory.

"Oh my God, you should like disinfect your arm or something." Kelsey's grating voice blears in my ear. "You probably have blood residue from Ethan's nose on you now." I stop dead in my tracks to stare wide eyed at Kelsey, this isn't the first time she, or in fact most of my friends, has made comments about Isaac, but with my new found information I can't just brush them aside anymore.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe Ethan deserved it?" I say pressing my mouth into a hard line.

"What?" the expression on her face shows that she isn't sure if she heard me right.

"You've known the twins for what a week? And you have already decided to trust them over Isaac?" I say getting a little ahead of myself, but I am so caught up in my rage that I can't stop.

"What do you mean over Isaac? He's a freak, he always has been." Kelsey says with more shock in her voice then defensiveness. "Although he has been dressing better since like last year and he has kind of gotten like this confident bad body quality lately, you know like randomly beating the shit out of people and stuff." I can't stop myself from hanging my mouth open in disbelief. Kelsey doesn't know anything about Isaac and here she is defining him like she knows all that he has been through. Seeing my reaction to her comment she quickly rights herself to what she thinks I want to hear. "Whatever, he's still a ditch digging freak, well at least he was until he's daddy's little accident, I guess that gives a new meaning to work release." Kelsey is an insensitive, stupid bitch, but somehow I am surprised, I guess because all of the other things she has said like this, I didn't care about those people. I have to fight the urge to throw her down the stairs, but I resist and storm up the stairs in front leaving a confused Kelsey tagging behind.

Last year Isaac was arrested for killing his father. There was a serial killer going around Beacon Hills, much like there is now and most of the time, and Isaac's father was the first to be killed. Isaac broke out of prison and was on the run for a while on Jackson's I-witness testimony. He had see Isaac and his father arguing the night he died, but Jackson later retracted his statement and Isaac was released. It turns out that this nerd Matt, he was friends with Jackson and Danny, was the one killing everybody. It's not surprising, he carried a camera around like a security blanket and he was always taking pictures of people. It seems like someone like that just has to turn out to be a serial killer.

In my annoyed rage I hurried down the dully lit, covered walkway till I found my self in front of a door with pale green paint peeling off around the cheep bronze colored door knob and little plastic sign with 220 written on it in white. I shoved the small brass key into the door knob and wiggled it until the door gave and swung open with a loud creek.

Instantly a nauseating mix of cigarette smoke and a musty smell wafted into my face. Hesitantly, I felt along the wall for a light switch, not eager to see what kind of road side dump I'm going to be sleeping in tonight. My hand grazes the small knob and the lights flip on with a snap. The newly light room consisted of the standard two queen sized beds draped in thin, dingy green confiders, a cheap wood writing desk, and a matching dresser. The walls were painted an ivory that could have once been pure white and the dark burgundy colored rug made me uneasy as to what spills and leaks it could be hiding. _Maybe I'll sleep on the bus._

"This is pleasant." Kelsey says making a weird noise in the back of her throat to communicate disgust as she appears behind me. She brushes past me in to the room and drops her purse on to the closest bed. I make my way over to the remaining bed and place my bag on the bedside table tipping the NO SMOKING sign on its face, it probably should not even be there. I begin to head towards the small bathroom until I realize that I don't have anything to brush my teeth with. I grab my bag and head for the door hoping this shitty motel has some for sale in the office or something. After hurrying out the door I am stopped in my tracks seeing Lydia exiting a room a few doors down. She doesn't seem to see me and proceeds to the stairs seeming to be heading the same direction as I am. Not knowing what I am going to say or why I even care I quicken my pace to catch up to her. She hears my hurried foot steps and turns meeting my gaze, her eyes seem to lighten with something that I can't quite read.

"Hey!" she says before I have a chance to talk. I am surprised at the cheeriness of her disposition. The whole mood around her seems to have changed since the last time I talked to her, I mean like really talked to her not just some bitchy remark as I pass her in the hallway. She still has her confidence, but the venom about her seems to be less prominent.

"Hey, umm… how's Scott? I mean like is he in the clear now?" I say not quite knowing the extent of my involvement in his scare from earlier.

"He's fine… now." Relief shows on her face and so does a small smirk. "Thanks for your help by the way." The air between us becomes awkward as we continue walking towards the motel office in silence. So much has changed since we were friends I know the extent of my changes, I practically am not even human anymore, but something about her has changed and these changes make it feel like we are two knew people.

"So I'm kind of new to all this stuff…" I say breaking the silence my voice sounds naive and I hate it even more because Lydia is the one to hear it. "Are you like… what do you have to do with all of this?"

"Well I'm not a wolf if that's what you're asking." She says seemingly amused.

"So then what are you?"

"Human." She says showing some of that bitchyness, but not in her usual, superiority complex way that I knew. "I hear you're not so human though." She says perusing her lips. She stops and turns to face me. Looking at my old best friend, I have the sudden sense to cry. We were never close close even when we were best friends, but I still miss her, Kelsey isn't a very good replacement. If we were still friends I would have never told her what I am, I like that she knows, I like that all of her friends know.

"Getting more towels?" I say notice the white hotel room towels in her hand and trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, my room reeks of nicotine." She says as she continues walking, keeping an eye on me with a small smirk on her always glossed lips. I want to tell her that I miss her, I miss sitting at our favorite bench in the mall after shopping with smoothes making fun of the trash of Beacon Hills as they walk by, but I don't want to give her the satisfaction. We reach the dirty glass door of the motel office and file in. The motel Clerk is turned in their office chair away from the glass windows behind her desk. I spot a small toiletry shop off to the side and make my way over picking up my brand of tooth paste and shampoo.

"Excuses me?" Lydia starts as she makes her way up to the clerk's desk. "I need some new towels, so much for smoke free, your rooms smell like one big ash tray." I come up behind Lydia with the things I had grabbed from the toiletry shop and place them on the counter beside her. The clerk wheels around in her chair to reveal a long tracheotomy tube stretching from a small whole in her neck down to an oxygen tank sitting beside her. Lydia and I exchange glances both knowing what we would have said to each other last year at the sight of her.

"I'm sorry," she says in a groggy tracheotomy voice as she slides open her desk window and takes the smelly towels from Lydia, "I'll get you some new ones." She says as she makes her way to a closet full of towels and sheets and collects a stack of towels.

"198, what's that for?" Lydia asks drawing my attention to three hooks on the back wall with large numbers hanging from them. 1-9-8. A sickly smoker's voice chuckle comes from the clerk.

"That's kinda a private joke around here." The clerk says trying to shake off her fits of laughter. "The Glen Capri Motel holds a unique record."

"And that is?" Lydia urges.

"We have been open for forty years and we hold the largest suicide rate in the state of California." She says oddly proud. My stomach churns as I get an uneasy feeling.

"Suicides?" I question in disbelief.

"198 and counting." The clerk says with an out of place smile before beginning her cough like chuckles again. Lydia grabs her towels and surprisingly waits for me to pay for my stuff before we both hurry out of the dank clerk's office and reluctantly head back to our rooms that are probably riddled with brain matter.


End file.
